As I desire a home located in the snow country, I will need a way to keep the ground free of snow. As I age, I concede that I may not always be physically capable of shoveling the snow. And, my wife could easily manage the snow build-up by simply turning on the system.

Ground Heat Exchanger - Rules of Thumb 🔗

  • GHX ➡ Provides 25% or more heating / cooling than load
  • Worst soil (mostly loose gavel): Use “worst-case” number: 300 Ft. (91.44 meters)
  • Best soil (saturated or very compacted earth): 150 Ft. (45.72 meters)
  • Vertical Borehole:
    • Boreholes should be a minimum of 15 ft apart. Ideally 20+ feet.
    • 150 ~ 300 feet deep
    • No more than “1 ton” of heating/cooling per borehole
    • Fluid flow-rate: 3 gallons (12 Liters) per minute per ton of cooling
    • Pipe diameter: 1" U-bend (just barely turbulent)
  • Horizontal Trench:
    • slinky style
    • straight style
      • 8 feet beteen trenches (2.4384 meters)
      • 10 feet deep (3.048 meters)
      • 2 feet spacing between pipes in a single trench
  • Bore depth: minimum of 150 feet (45.72 meters)
  • Trench length: minimum of 200 feet (60.96 meters)

Terminology:

  • “One Ton” system: Rate of heat necessary to freeze 2000Lbs of water at 0°C ≈ 3.5KWatts
  • Circuit: Fluid loop on a heat pump

Is Geothermal Heating and Cooling Worth the Cost? Heat Pumps Explained | Video (8:21 minutes) 🔗

Is Geothermal Heating and Cooling Worth the Cost? Heat pumps Explained. When building a house, homeowners have several ways to power their heating and cooling systems, like oil, natural gas, or electricity. But there’s another option right below our feet. You can install geothermal heating and cooling in your home, but is it worth the cost? And how does it hold up?

Types of GSHP (Ground Source Heat Pumps):

  • Open Loop Geothermal systems
  • Closed Loop Geothermal systems
    • Vertical
    • Horizontal
    • Slinky coil
    • Pond

Geothermal ground source heat pumps. Heating your home from your own back yard! | Video (13:35 minutes) 🔗

Geothermal energy could be potentially transformational for our power grids, as we saw in our last video. But you and I can also get in on the act by drawing our own domestic heating from beneath our gardens (or communal gardens if you live in an apartment block). The technology is called a Ground Source Heat Pump. They’ve been around for a while but they are growing very quickly in popularity and may prove to be one of the lynch pins in helping us get to carbon neutrality by 2050.

Debunking 3 Geothermal Myths | Video (8:20 minutes) 🔗

Matt got the chance to meet up with Wade, a fellow builder in Rhode Island, who is in the process of installing a geothermal heating system at one of his projects. Geothermal heating systems have been around for much longer than you may think, and in theory are quite environmentally friendly and efficient. But due to a lack of consumer knowledge and the assumed complexity, geothermal still makes up a small fraction of HVAC systems used in America. But, as Wade and Lou (Wade’s HVAC installer) will tell us, these systems are more affordable than you think, and an excellent way to go about heating your house. There are a couple different types of geothermal heating systems, but essentially pipes in the ground circulate a water solution and extract heat energy and transfer it into buildings. If you are interested in learning more about this system, check out the video and listen to what Lou and Wade have to say!

DIY Geothermal | Video (8:20 minutes) 🔗

DIY Geothermal - What You Need To Know

If you are thinking about doing DIY geothermal, here is what you need to know before you ever start. It is not impossible to do, but the learning curve is steep. Know what you are getting yourself into with your ground source heat pump so you know where you can diy to save money.

Geothermal vs The Deep Freeze - https://youtu.be/_fK4ZVWil-g
How Much My Geothermal System Cost - https://youtu.be/mjWsSmjAOeU
Cheap Geothermal - https://youtu.be/MUWjjjFgXdg

Manual J - https://amzn.to/3axIfE4
Understanding Manual J - https://amzn.to/2LPkdtW
Manual S - https://amzn.to/3mH57n7
Manual D - https://amzn.to/2KocdQc
Closed-Loop Geothermal Systems Slinky Installation Guide - https://amzn.to/37BOBR8
3 Circuit Closed Loop Header - https://amzn.to/3mAfby5
4 Circuit Closed Loop Header - https://amzn.to/37DKjZq
5 Circuit Closed Loop Header - https://amzn.to/3pcPjdp
Trion Air Bear 20X25X5 Air Filters - https://amzn.to/34FmMFI